Dubai Ruler Says Not So Fast for 2020 Olympic Bid
Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates says he can’t say whether a bid from Dubai is possible for the 2020 Olympics.
"For 2020 the bidding is not open yet," the sheikh said in a meeting with reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the SportAccord convention in Dubai.
"For now we are studying this, answering the questions I have. Then the bid comes," he said.
He was accompanied by his wife, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, president of the International Equestrian Federation.
"All of us who are athletes want to see an Olympics in our part of the world," she said.
"But his highness is absolutely clear. We have to be honest with ourselves. There are real issues with having a Games in this part of the world, primarily with the heat and the climate. He wants clear answers," she said.
Sheikh Mohammed would not comment on how Dubai might address the heat issue, saying it was up to the feasibility study to determine if it can be handled.
He says he prefers to look at the issues facing a Dubai Olympic bid as a "challenge" rather than a drawback, noting the way the desert landscape of Dubai has been transformed into a metropolis studded with the world’s highest skyscrapers.
The feasibility study is being conducted by the Dubai firm of Falcon and Associates, led by CEO Giselle Davies Pettyfer, former communications director with the IOC, now a Dubai resident.
Governor Still to Hold Role with PyeongChang Olympic Bid
Governor Jin Sun Kim, the Gangwon Province governor who has been the public face of the past two bids from PyeongChang for the Winter Olympics, says he still plans to keep working for the bid after he steps down as governor in June. He is barred from seeking a fourth term in office.
He currently is co-chair of the bid, sharing the post with Korean Airlines chair Yang Ho Cho. After the June elections, the new Gangwon province governor will take the co-chairmanship.
"I will continue to play my part," says Kim, while his co-chair says that he cannot think of a PyeongChang bid without Governor Kim. I expect him to finish his dream of bringing the Olympics to PyeongChang," said Cho.
PyeongChang held a breakfast briefing for reporters in Dubai at a hotel some distance from the Atlantis, where SportAccord is being held. The three 2018 applicant cities, which also include Annecy and Munich, are not allowed to conduct formal events at the SportAccord convention.
Nonetheless all three are working in the lobby and cafes of the massive Atlantis resort, talking to reporters and other bid watchers in the SportAccord crowd.
Munich Learning in Dubai
Munich 2018 CEO Willy Bogner tells Around the Rings that his team’s visit to Dubai is "part of the learning process for the Bavarian bid.
Bogner says five people from Munich are in Dubai, including chair Katarina Witt.
"The IOC members we meet are friendly and open, some of them already familiar with our bid plan,"he says.
Bogner says IOC members and federation officials tell him that besides the technical merits of bid, they are looking for "atmosphere, emotion and enthusiasm" from a 2018 host.
Bogner and leaders from the other 2018 bids will leave Dubai at the end of the week then head to the other side of the globe, the Pan American Sports Organization general assembly in Merida, Mexico.
Annecy Bid Leader Skis in the Desert
Olympic champion and Annecy 2018 bid leader Edgar Grospiron tested the snowy slopes of Dubai Wednesday with some skiing at an indoor run at the Mall of Dubai.
"I just glided, I glided" says the now 41 year-old moguls champ of the Albertville Games, the first time freestyle ski was held in the Olympics.
Grospiron tells Around the Rings that he has had a positive experience at SportAccord this week in Dubai.
"I’m a new player, but people are very friendly, open-minded," he says.
"We are here to discuss, to talk, to meet, to show what we have."
The Annecy team at SportAccord includes Mayor Jean Luc Rigault and French NOC President Denis Masseglia.
Grospiron says last week’s public endorsement of the bid by French president Nicholas Sarkozy was a big plus for Annecy.
Grospiron will travel Thursday to Shanghai to participate with Sarkozy in the May 1 opening of Expo 2010.
While the 2018 applicant cities cannot promote themselves overtly at SportAccord, Annecy is part of Rhône-Alpes region; its economic development agency has a booth to promote the destination.
Written by Ed Hula.
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